Before the Slings and Arrows, Davis’ Day to Celebrate

SACRAMENTO â€”  Your best day in any administration is Inauguration Day because you’re celebrating a wonderful victory and a new beginning. You’re partying with friends--and everybody is your friend. You have yet to make a decision that ticks off anybody. That comes the second day.

--Attorney Steve Merksamer, former chief aide to Gov. George Deukmejian

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“I’m pumped,� says Gray Davis, who today takes the oath as California’s 37th governor. He’s also “humbled,� “grateful� and “confident.�

“I feel great,� he gushes. “This is what I’ve worked for, planned for, asked the Lord for his help to obtain. My dream has come true.�

Gray Davis can be excused the unrestrained exuberance. He wasn’t supposed to be here, after all. Does Gray Davis really think he can be elected governor? smirking Sacramento seers and Washington wizards were asking each other one year ago.

“We got every break,� Davis admits, while adding--also correctly--�We made some of our own breaks.�

Davis had just finished the seventh draft of his Inaugural Address when I talked to him early last week.

“The basic theme,� he said, “will be public service. We are the beneficiaries of the sacrifice and investment of our parents and grandparents. We are only worthy of their great legacy if we give something back to society. I don’t mean we have to join the government.�

Davis says he’s talking about giving back to churches, schools, neighborhoods--community service. “I can only succeed if I have the benefit of the collective action of inspired citizens. No governor or legislature can carry the burden alone.�

He adds, “I’m going to remind people how much we depend on one another. I’ll do my level best to eliminate the politics of vilification. Some business leaders like to vilify state employees and teachers. On the other hand, many people on the left like to vilify CEOs and entrepreneurs. The fact is, we need people who risk their capital and create jobs. I’m not going to tolerate people vilifying any legitimate forms of work.�

Davis is a Democrat who is sounding a bit Republican and seemingly--as he promised--charting a centrist course across the high ground.

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No matter how lofty the rhetoric on Inauguration Day, however, a governor sooner or later must get into the trenches--if not the gutter--and make things happen. Reward and punish. And say ‘no’ to political backers--labor unions and trial lawyers, in Davis’ case--in order to maintain credibility with moderate swing voters.

Can Davis, for example, tell the teachers unions: Sorry, but teachers from now on must be held accountable for poor student performance.

“If he does, he will be a hero and I will lead the applause,� outgoing Gov. Pete Wilson recently told me. “It will be the first and perhaps the most defining test of his character in this office.�

“Just wait and stay tuned,� Davis insists. “I’m not interested in telling my friends ‘no’ for the sake of being difficult. I’m interested in finding common ground. But if their interests conflict with good public policy, I’ll be forced to tell them ‘no’ and I won’t hesitate.�

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Gray Davis--the man with “Experience Money Can’t Buy� and the best campaign slogan of the decade--enters office as perhaps the most well-prepared governor in history.

He has stocked his Cabinet with known loyalists. Many, like himself, are Jerry Brown retreads and some are hardly centrists, but Davis has made it clear there’ll be only one agenda--his.

“I’ve told every Cabinet officer,� he says, “ ‘You are not a free agent. You are here to implement my policies. Here is the program.’ I mean, I’ve been working at this for 25 years. I know where this state should go.�

He’s pragmatic. He won’t try to resurrect racial preferences at the University of California or anywhere in state government: “An exercise in futility. I have no intention of defying the will of the electorate.�

Davis, 56, was Gov. Brown’s chief aide, then a legislator, state controller and lieutenant governor--and now probably the first new chief executive not to need a crash course in budgeting. Already, Davis reports, he has closed a $3.7-billion budget hole, largely by delaying payments on slow-moving construction projects. So there will be enough money, he says, to give most state employees their first pay hikes in four years.

There’ll be Davis screwups. And the only experience that will count when he runs for reelection is what happens the next 3 1/2 years.

But this is Gray Davis’ day and he deserves it. Salute and hold the shots. Allow him his rhetoric. Throw rice, not rocks. The honeymoon begins today--and begins ending tomorrow.